Muritala Olaniyi Oke
Meteorological drought are difficult to avoid but could be monitored, and their adverse impacts could be alleviated. This study investigated invisible drought in Abeokuta, Southwest Nigeria using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) based on the reconstruction of rainfall events into one and three time scales. The study revealed that although there is an increase in the trend of annual rainfall, large amount of severe drought occurred between January, December, February, November and March, in descending order of frequency. While exceptionally dry periods that were missed in the one month time scale were caught in the 3 months scale for January in 1984, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. The study concluded that invisible droughts are creeping within the months of December and March in the study area. Policy measures that can support adaptation should be put in place to forestall unexpected crisis while extension services be strengthened to assist the farmers in cushioning these effects.
